


Zoro and his fourth earring

by Nichtigkeit_4



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26866168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nichtigkeit_4/pseuds/Nichtigkeit_4
Summary: A normal day on the Thousand Sunny. And yet everything is so different from usual. Zoro and his fourth earring surprise the crew. What's that all about? - [ZoSan]
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 2
Kudos: 83





	Zoro and his fourth earring

**Author's Note:**

> All my stories have been translated from German to English. Since English is not my native language, translation errors may occur. But I hope that they are not too serious. If you notice any, feel free to tell me.
> 
> Have fun!

"Get a move on, Chopper! I haven't got all day!" – "Don't rush me! I've never done this before! What if I hurt you now? What if I mess up?" – "You won't. Just do it now!"

It was around noon when the young and small doctor sat in his treatment room on his highly pumped-up chair and looked excitedly at his comrade with big, googly eyes. This one stared back, had also sat down on a chair opposite him and was at eye level with him.

The sound of the waves could be heard as they drifted again and again towards the wood of the ship and then died away again. Otherwise there was a dead silence between them. Chopper didn't know any more how he had got into this situation and certainly not how he should deal with it now. But what he knew was that he would not get out of this thing. And so he sat there, a needle in one hoof and a swab soaked in disinfectant in the other. 

He was scared enough as it was, to do the wrong thing. And now he was supposed to deliberately hurt his friend? That was madness! He was a doctor! His job was to prevent pain, not to cause it.

"Are you really sure you want me to do this?", he must have made sure for the fifth time and had to swallow hard. He knew that his counterpart would not change his mind anymore, but it was worth a try.

"Chopper, we've been at this for half an hour. If you don't do it now, I'll do it myself" – A threatening undertone accompanied these words and very briefly Chopper wondered how it came about that his otherwise so impatient friend had managed to control himself for so long. At the same time it made it clear to him that he finally had to do it. He gathered all his courage.

"All right. Then I want you to hold still now and turn your head to the right" – For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Chopper spoke resolutely and seriously. He finally had the courage to follow his friend's request.

His companion was relieved – "Finally!", just couldn't hold back, but immediately did what the doctor asked him to do.

"I'd like to have it at the same distance as the others. Would that be possible?" – "Sure“

Those were the last words before Chopper, rubbed the soaked swab over the soft flesh to disinfect it. He held the needle firmly between the claws and started. He put his last doubts aside for good and stabbed.

"Arg!"

~*~

"Dinner is ready," the loud voice of the smutje echoed over the deck of the Thousand Sunny and tore all crew members from their thoughts. It was already late, the sun disappeared very slowly and gradually behind the horizon and bathed the ship in a dim light. It filled the sea with red rays of light and made it shine like liquid rubies. Sanji always found this sight impressive and breathtaking. He loved to just stand here, at the door of the caboose, where he had the best view over the ship and the sea. So he had everything in one view and it made him realize again how happy he was here with his friends on the Sunny. He could not imagine anything better.

Sanji was always carried away from his rapture when Luffy was the first to respond to his call and, with the help of his devil powers, catapulted himself from the figurehead, directly into the galley. The women, on the other hand, took it very slowly. They slowly rose from their deck chairs, in which they had lain down to get a tan from the sun, and walked, still talking, towards the kitchen. Usopp, Chopper as well as Franky and Brook did the same. Only Zoro, could not yet get up to go out to eat. It had been a very hot day today, he had trained a lot and if he was honest with himself, he was just too lazy to eat anything now. But skipping it was not an option. The Smutje would immediately make him two heads shorter if he would cut off his food. Zoro knew how important it was for Sanji that everyone was always well-fed and satisfied. Even if it often led to a Captain slowly but surely eating the hair off his head. Secretly, Sanji was happy about it, it was a sign of his good cooking skills. But he would never admit that.

But putting everything off and thinking it over didn't help, he would have to get up. Whatever he did in the end. Unwillingly, but he did it. He crept into the caboose and saw that everyone was already sitting at the table and the plates had filled.

"Are you lost on the way here, you dumb-ass, or why are you keeping us waiting?", it immediately roared out at Zoro. And who else could it be but Sanji, who gave him one of his nice pet names.

"Shut up, vegetable boy. Be glad that I came here at all" – "Oh, now I'm supposed to feel honored that you're making us happy with your presence? Arrogant Spinach Head" – With full force, Sanji slammed a full plate in Zoro's front. He even had to control himself not to pull him over the swordsman's head. He hated it when Zoro was always late for dinner. He knew they only started eating together. Only in rare circumstances Sanji let it pass that they started without one of the crew members. But the fact that Zoro was the last one to arrive every damn time made him furious.

"Enjoy your meal," Sanji growled before he sat down in his seat opposite his 'rival' and started to eat. The others did the same and didn't let the argument between the two of them worry them one bit. That was part of the daily schedule by now and did not upset anyone. Except maybe Nami. But only if she was tired of all the bickering between the two and wanted to have her peace. For which her companions were sometimes more than grateful.

Now they all sat quietly, as far as you could call it quiet, if you had to be constantly on guard against Luffy's greedy fingers, together and ate. During the meal they talked animatedly and laughed a lot, which was mostly due to one of Usopp's lies. Only Sanji didn't seem to be quite with the thoughts of his friends. He couldn't help but take a closer look at Zoro. Something was different. Something had changed in him since lunch.

"Have you discovered your fable for jewelry, or are you simply a masochist?" – At last Sanji knew what was different.

"What?" – Zoro had a-

"Fourth earring? Seriously?" – Zoro reflexively grabbed his ear and instantly raised his eyebrows. So it was still fresh. So fresh it was uncomfortable to touch.

"You have another earring?" – Luffy suddenly shouted with a full mouth, across the table.

"Let me see, let me see", cried Usopp excitedly and had a glint in his eye. Resigned, Zoro sighed before he lowered his fork and turned his head to the right so that the entire crew could look at his latest jewel.

"Chic, Mr. Swordsman", Robin said appreciatively and smiled. Franky let out a proud "Nice", announced and raised his thumbs up. And Zoro had to admit Franky had every reason to be proud. After all, he had managed to build an exact replica of his already existing earrings. Even though Franky was a carpenter, he had gained a lot of experience with many different metals through countless self-experiments. So it had been easy for him to make a fourth earring for Zoro.

"I should have something like that made for myself! Although I don't have ears anymore. Yohohohoho!" – Brook and his predictable jokes. Zoro could only shake his head inside, and yet a brief grin crept across his lips. The only one who still seemed to be skeptical was Nami.

"Where did you get it all of a sudden?", she asked and pulled her eyebrows together.

"Franky made it for me. And Chopper did the rest" – "That's so cool! Chopper, you've gotta give me one too!" – You could literally see the stars in the Captain's eyes as he fixed the doctor and excitedly waved his arms. – "N-no! I hated to do that and swore not to do it a second time," was the moose's stubborn reply. He had hated it and still had a guilty conscience that he had hurt his friend, even though he had insisted on it.

"Besides, unlike you, Zoro is old enough to decide what he does," Nami added and already gave her captain a hart punch.

"But- But he's only three years older than me," Luffy immediately defended himself and rubbed the aching bump that Nami had left on his head. But Nami didn't go into it any further and preferred to turn back to Zoro, who in turn had devoted himself to his food again. It didn't escape his notice that Sanji was the only one who hadn't commented on his new earring yet. He had expected that he would be the first to give his thoughts.

"But why four?" – The navigator's voice, suddenly ripped Zoro from his memory. But since he had no idea what Nami was talking about, all that escaped him was a very witty "Huh?".

"The earring, idiot. We've known each other for a few years now. And you only ever had those three earrings. Why wasn't three enough?" – Corrected question, what Sanji thought. After all, their slowpoke wasn't exactly a fan of change. If he had his way, he'd sleep and drink sake all day long. He was already annoyed when he couldn't get his usual amount of sleep. Then why the mutilation now? The answer to this question also interested the rest of the crew members, even though nobody had thought to ask this question before.

And actually Zoro didn't feel the slightest urge to answer this question, but the looks of his comrades pierced him and forced him to speak up. He would not be able to escape them. If he didn't give them the answer now, they would definitely keep bugging him until they got what they wanted. And that was certainly even more exhausting than being at the mercy of their questions now. So he bowed to his fate. He had no choice. Zoro sighed deeply.

"The three earrings stand for my three sword fighting technique" – "Does that mean you plan to turn it into a four sword fighting technique?", Usopp asked excitedly and a bit scared. Weren't three already enough?

"For God's sake, no! How was that supposed to work? No, the fourth is-" - How should he best say that now? Without it sounding corny or stupid?

"Come on out, Marimo," Sanji joined the conversation again after an eternity. Of course, this cooking spoon couldn't help but grumble at him!

"It stands for something that is at least, if not more important to me than my sword fighting" - "You really want something more important than fighting? Tz! That I don't laugh!" - With these words, the Cook stood up, his chair squeaked quickly and shrilly across the floor and he left the table with his plate in his hand. He just couldn't listen to this talk about that stupid earring anymore. That was really unbearable! Something should be more important to this old kale than his three stupid toothpicks? If only!

With only half an ear left, Sanji followed the conversation of his friends. But he could already guess what it was all about. He could hear Usopp and Chopper loudly speculating about what this earring probably stood for. But Zoro steadfastly refused to give an honest answer. On the grounds that it was his private matter and that he really didn't need to lay everything out in front of them. Where he was right. Still, his friends didn't like to hear that, since they were all very curious by nature. That was one of the many reasons why they made such a good team.

After another twenty minutes of speculating, squeezing and a dessert, they finally realized that there was nothing more to get out of Zoro. He would keep an ironclad silence about his earring. None of the friends, especially Nami, liked that, but she had to accept it. And after the dessert was completely eliminated, they all slowly made their way to their beds. It was already late, and even if they had nothing planned for tomorrow, it was not very beneficial to sleep all day. Except for Zoro. But he overslept just about everything.

Little by little the friends said goodbye to each other and left the galley. Sanji left them with the dishes after Nami was kind enough to take the plates from the table to the sink. With an exaggerated "Thank you Nami-chan," Sanji said good-bye to her before she too left the galley. Now Sanji and Zoro were the only ones left.

Zoro stood next to the cook and took a towel from the sideboard to dry the first plate. Silently this went on for a few minutes. Neither of them really felt the need to talk, even though they knew they needed to.

"I love you, you know that. So why are you doing this to me now," Zoro asked into the silence as he just grabbed the next plate. Although he didn't expect an answer from Sanji, he hoped for one. It had been going on between them for days. Either they kept quiet or they fought. It was an endless vicious circle from which they could not break out.

When Zoro tried to grab the next plate, he noticed that Sanji had stopped washing. He stared into the sink in front of him, stared into the dirty water where the rest of the dishes started to soften. The thin layer of foam caused by the detergent covered much of the surface, but you could still see that except for one plate, only the cutlery and three glasses were left.

"Say that again" - Sanji's voice sounded hoarse and he couldn't manage to look at Zoro, who in turn fixed him with his gaze. What was going on?

"Why are you doing this to me?", Zoro repeated his words and waited for a reaction. But Sanji lowered his head just a little bit more. His hair covered his face and so Zoro was unable to deduce from his friend's mine what was going on inside him. Not that Zoro had ever succeeded before. After all, he was a total loser when it came to feelings, at least that's what Sanji had always held against him.

"Not that!" - Now Sanji's voice sounded firm again, almost angry, but also insecure. His hands clawed into the edge of the sink. He leaned heavily on them while his pulse shot up to unimaginable heights. His heart was beating up to his neck, which he tried to swallow with difficulty. - "The one before"

"I-" - And suddenly Zoro realized what he was about to say. What he had said. Why? Why did he say that? He had never said it before. Not to Sanji or to any other person. He was even sure he had never felt it before. So why had he said it now? To Sanji of all people?

"I love you" - Because it was the truth. It had just come over his lips. Without thinking about it, he had told him that he loved him. Yet only four days ago he had said to him that he was not ready to take this step. Two years in which they were close to each other, physically and emotionally, and never before had he managed to tell him that he loved him. He had even told him that he might never be able to say it. It was just so hard. How would he know if he was really feeling love if he had never felt it before, if he had no idea what love felt like? And Zoro was a man of honor! He would never say anything that was not true.

But now in this moment, he was shouting himself an idiot. He was such an idiot that he thought it would be hard. Like lead, it had been on his soul that he never had the courage to speak his feelings openly. Yet Sanji was ready to do so from the very first moment. But out of consideration he had always kept these words to himself. She had never spoken them once in her relationship and had waited until Zoro was finally ready to do the same. But nothing had ever happened. And one day the day came when Sanji doubted it. He doubted about Zoro, about their relationship and about his feelings. He always knew that he loved Zoro, but whether it was mutual was a question that weighed heavily on his heart. He was tired of waiting for it. He just didn't want to wait anymore. For all the love he felt, he could not be with a man who didn't love him back. It was just too much for him. And so he confronted Zoro with it. Told him that he finally had to make up his mind. And then those terrible words came over his lips. Words that made his heart skip a beat. A lump formed in his throat and for a moment he had the feeling to choke on it. And if that didn't kill him, the chain that was painfully wrapped around his chest and gradually crushed his intestines would.

~ "I can't. And maybe I never will. You are important to me, but I still have so many goals, I can't lose sight of them. As long as I have not achieved everything that is possible, I will probably never be able to do it" ~

The fact that he had done it after all still shook Sanji. He should be happy, but what if Zoro just said it because he wanted him to? He would never be able to bear that.

"I love you. I love you. I love you so much" - Over and over again, like a mantra, the words left Zoro's lips and he couldn't resist turning to his cook and whispering them into his ear. Because now that he managed to utter them, he had to say them as often as he could. He had to make up for the last two years in which he had failed to tell Sanji how he really felt.

Still standing rigidly by the sink, Sanji clasped his hands to the edge of the sink. He suppressed a tremor that attacked his body when Zoro touched him. Now he heard these words over and over again that made every cell in his body vibrate. It filled him with so many emotions, it flooded his senses and his mind. He managed not to cry, but not to hold back.

He turned to his Boyfriend and kissed him. He did not think about the fact that his hands were still wet from washing up. That the water was dirty and was now seeping through the swordsman's white T-shirt. That he touched him in the face with wet hands, forcing him to get even closer. Let his hair get wet from the dishwater, as long as he could get as close to Zoro as possible. After four days in which they were far away, he wanted nothing more than to feel his Boyfriend with him. He wanted his body on his and a kiss so deep that it took his breath away. And nothing else Zoro wanted to give him. He wrapped his arms tightly around the narrow body and kissed it intimately and passionately. - He just couldn't help but believe him.

They kissed each other until they both could not breathe. And only unwillingly they released their kiss, but without bringing distance between them. Sanji swallowed hard and leaned his forehead against his partner's. It all felt so surreal. He could hardly believe that he had finally got what he had wished for so long.

"That was all I ever wanted from you," he whispered and finally lost the fight against his tears. He just couldn't stop a tear running down his cheek. It was a tear of relief and joy. Joy that Zoro loved him after all, that he had finally said it.

"I know" - that was all Zoro could say. He locked Sanji in an even tighter embrace and buried his head in the crook of the cook's neck. He too was relieved that it was finally over. That they finally stopped fighting and that he could finally be close to Sanji again.

"And all because of an earring," Sanji suddenly laughed and made Zoro laugh as well. It vibrated deep in the swordsman's chest and his hot breath beat against the cooks pale skin. God! How he had missed this!

"I love you," Zoro repeated his words that he had said so many times in that short time. He looked up and fixed the sea-blue eyes of his counterpart.

"I love you, too" - Finally he could say it. Finally he could tell Zoro that he loved him. Finally those words no longer weighed on his heart. And from now on, he could say them as often as he liked. Whenever he felt the need to tell him that he loved him, he would be able to do so. Never before had he been so happy!

"What do you actually think of it? I mean the earring. After all, I only have it because of you" - Zoro smiled and couldn't resist giving his beloved one another short kiss on the lips.

"It's perfect," Sanji said almost absent-mindedly as he drove along the outer edge of the auricle and briefly made the swordsman's earrings swing. He kissed him again. And it wouldn't be the last time for sure.

~*~

"Oh Chopper, don't make such a fuss," echoed the laughing voice of a visibly aged, green-haired swordsman through the treatment room of the thousand Sunny.

"What do you mean, 'don't make a fuss'? Did you forget that I had actually said that I would never do that again? You really should find someone on the next island to do it" - The little moose seemed determined. Much more determined than the last time his friend had asked him for this special favor.

"But there's no one I trust as much as you," Zoro tried to talk his comrade into it. Finally he knew what the doctor was referring to. A lot of time had passed and each of them had changed during that time, but many a trait had remained.

"Don't say that," Chopper spoke embarrassed and hid his face behind his hooves. - "Besides, it's already been twelve years since I last did that" - "But you know how much it means to me" - From the one eye the swordsman had left, he looked at Chopper seriously. For sure the doctor knew how important it was for Zoro. Twelve years ago, he had a hole in his ear pierced as a sign of love for Sanji. When the rest of the straw hat gang found out, they were all more than surprised. After all, no one had known until then that they were close in this way. It didn't bother anyone, but it was unusual. And after all this time, they had of course also learned that this small and at first sight seemingly insignificant earring was the reason why they had found each other again. So it was all the more important for Zoro to repeat this.

All in all, Sanji and Zoro had been a couple for fourteen years and they still loved each other like they did then. But they also grew up. They had achieved the goals they had all set themselves and were still sailing around the seven seas - what else could they do? They could not possibly settle down anywhere with their bounty. The Navy would find them anywhere.

But after all the time and the experiences they had together, their goals grew. And after the crew had completed the most dangerous stages of their journey and finally the journey itself, it was up to them to find new destinations. And since Sanji had always been a family man, he wished - how could it be otherwise? - children. Of course he couldn't have any children with Zoro, but that didn't stop him from wishing for some. And almost as if someone had heard them, they found a lonely and lost boy on an island at the age of three who had neither family nor distant relatives. After long discussions they decided to take him with them. In the end, the boy had no one left and it almost broke Sanji's heart to look into those bright brown eyes that stared at him so sadly. That was already two years ago and this bright little brown-haired boy made his 'parents' every day the most beautiful in their lives. Zoro had gotten used to being a father and never wanted to miss it again. He already loved this boy as if he were his own son. That's why he would have another hole in his ear pierced.

"Isn't five a bit too many?" - Chopper asked, perhaps to make Zoro doubt, but it was no use. Once he had set his mind to something, he wouldn't let it go so quickly.

"Please Chopper. Do it for my son" - Chopper sighed. This argument struck him every time. Because he had already taken the boy, just like the rest of the crew, to his heart and if he had to, they would protect him with their lives. He simply belonged in their family. He would have to do it, after all he was Uncle Tony Chopper!

"As you wish. Don't move, head to the right. Same distance" - Zoro nodded briefly and did what the doctor told him. Chopper disinfected the area where the earring was supposed to go and put the needle on. Without warning Zoro again, he stabbed him.

"Arg!"

03.03.2014


End file.
